Black & White

By Elizabeth Lee Sorrell

Shantelle White has been with a top secret branch of the CIA from its very beginning. Jayson Black is one of the branches top operatives. When funds get tight Shantelle and Jayson are forced together to find a solution. Will they find out where the money has gone and who is behind it before all their agents are gone?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yarbrough House Publishing
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9780997013252

Elizabeth Lee Sorrell

Elizabeth Lee Sorrell, an Alabama native, is a gifted teacher. She has worked with babies and preschoolers, for twenty plus years. She is a teacher in the Federal Head Start program. She has her Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Development, her Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education, and her Master's in Early Childhood Education. When not teaching, or leading as the Nursery Coordinator of her church, she is with her family and dear friends, probably reading or writing a book. She loves to spend time with her nieces. Elizabeth is a Christian. She cheers for the Auburn Tigers, and the Atlanta Braves. As a big baseball fan, she has, more than once, written stories in the world of MLB, and watches as many games as she is able. Elizabeth has been writing stories since she learned how to write, almost thirty years now.

Book preview

Chapter One

Shantelle is a secretary by title, but in reality she is so much more. She does all the typical secretary jobs. She files. She answers phones. She types. She takes dictation. She keeps up with the books. She keeps up with appointments. She even makes coffee runs. In addition she also keeps local P.D. (police department) out of the way as well as state authorities. She feeds cover stories to the FBI and other government officials. She keeps track of a wide variety of agents. She knows where all field agents and desk warmers are at all times. If any agent goes AWOL at any time, Shantelle is the first to know about it. Each agent checks in with her both before and after an assignment. She takes their statement and fills out the appropriate paperwork. Then she keeps that same paperwork hidden away and locked tight.

Shantelle works for a top secret branch of the CIA. The whole operation is very hush-hush. Neither local, state, nor federal authorities know anything about this top secret branch. Most government officials know nothing at all, and very few CIA know about

this branch.

Shantelle’s boss, Mr. Hawk, would be lost without her, and he knows it. Mr. Hawk has no organizational skills. He can rarely find a pen without Shantelle’s help. That is not to mention how hard a worker Shantelle is. She is focused. She is super efficient, and she does everything that is asked of her and then some. She is the quiet type; she is no nonsense. She never really gets to know anyone.

Jayson has worked for this branch for over five years now. He was chosen for this position for several reasons. He is an outstanding field agent. He thinks quick on his feet. He easily makes executive decisions. He is a natural born leader. He juggles his schedule well. He is also a very laid back man; he does not get into a panic. Unfortunately punctuality is not necessarily a high priority with Jayson.

You’re late, Shantelle said as Jayson walked up to her desk.

Better late than never, Jayson commented. They practically begged me to join their executive board. What are they going to do, have the entire meeting without me?

Don’t underestimate Hawk, Shantelle warned.

He’s mad, huh? Jayson inquired.

Mad is not the word, Shantelle answered. I need to see you as soon as the meeting is over. I need your statement.

You look busy, Jayson said. Shantelle glanced up at Jayson without a word then promptly returned to her work. Right, I’m late; we’ll talk later, Jayson responded and made his way down the hall to the meeting.

Hawk was still steamed when he came out of the meeting. He started this branch himself fourteen years ago. He takes his job very serious. His job is his life, and he expects everyone involved to take their job serious, especially members of the executive board of directors. Jayson’s laid back attitude drives Hawk up the wall, and he cannot stand the way Jayson shows up late for everything.

Shantelle, these need to be typed up, Hawk said handing her a large stack of papers. Those notices we talked about last week will need to be mailed out.

Freeze, Black, Shantelle interrupted.

Do you have eyes in the back of your head? Jayson asked.

Wait right there. I still need your statement. I’ll call down and have security stop you if you try to leave, Shantelle warned.

I wouldn’t dream of skipping out on our titillating interview, Jayson said with obvious sarcasm.

Hawk rolled his eyes and continued on with his instructions for Shantelle. When you get a chance come see me. I have a list of names I need a background on. If I like what I see, I’m going to need some contact information.

Hawk turned and walked into his office. Shantelle turned around to her desk and set the stack of papers down. Have a seat, she instructed Jayson.

Is that a secure area? Jayson joked.

Drop the smart comments, Black. I don’t have time for them, Shantelle said.

You never have the time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take the time to even smile, Jayson returned.

Stick to the assignment, Shantelle instructed with aggravation.

Yeah, did you hand pick that assignment for me? It was an open and shut case.

You had a meeting to get back for, Shantelle replied.

Come on. It was too easy. I like a challenge, Jayson complained.

Just tell me what happened.

The guy was predictable. He was at the precise location you gave me. He had not changed anything about his routine. He had not changed anything about his looks. I arrived Wednesday morning. I had found him by Wednesday night. I had him positively ID’ed and in my sights by Thursday morning. I shot him. He’s gone. It’s over. I was home by Friday morning.

You were home yesterday morning, Shantelle responded. Why are you only now checking in?

I had to come in today for the meeting anyway. Why come in two days in a row? Jayson questioned.

I need to know exactly when you get back from now on. Hold on while I get your next assignment.

Wouldn’t it be easier if you tagged me with a tracking device? You could attach it to my underwear maybe, won’t be going far without those. Jayson asked as Shantelle pulled up assignments on the computer.

What makes you so sure I don’t already have one? Shantelle asked.

Was that a joke? Do you have an actual sense of humor? You know, I bet when you leave here at night, you are the sweetest girl that any person has ever met.

Your assignment is printing out now. I hope it is challenging enough, Shantelle said with a sly smile.

Chapter Two

Jayson did not come back in for almost a month.

Jayson Black reporting in. My plane got in one hour ago, he said slapping Shantelle’s desk.

Shantelle glanced up. You look jet lagged. What took so long?

Oh, ha, ha, Jayson reacted.

You did say you wanted a challenge. Have a seat, Shantelle said.

Jayson sat down. I hope you have plenty of time.

It’s my job to listen to your reports and fill out forms. Go.

You do have a sense of humor. Tell me one thing before we get started. Did you really hand pick that assignment? Jayson asked with fascination.

It was one of the hardest cases we had. You wanted a challenge, so I figured you might as well take a crack at it, Shantelle admitted.

Wow, Jayson mumbled shaking his head. "Okay, so I get there, to the location you gave me, right, and this guy is absolutely nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere. I asked everyone. No one has ever seen this guy. There was no sign that this guy was ever there. I’m just walking around clueless for three days. Then I saw it.

"It was hanging there staring me in the face the whole time. In a little pizza place, there was a small bulletin board with little odds and ends from patrons hanging on it. It was sort of hidden, but there was his name in clear print. It was a hand written note, girl’s handwriting. It was a bunch of mushy, gushy stuff basically wishing him luck in Australia.

"This was it. The guy was on the move, and so was I. Now I knew what country, but I had no idea where in Australia. Australia is a large enough country. I was talking with a stewardess on the flight over. She was preoccupied with her cosmetology classes. I showed her the picture. She recognized him, but he looked very different with dark hair. She talked about how the blonde really didn’t suit him. After an excruciatingly long discussion about hair color, I finally got out of her that he has dark hair now with blonde highlights. He remembered to dye his eyebrows, and he had a dark goatee. Just before his flight landed the stewardess overheard him on the phone with some doctor. She said that it sounded like he was planning some sort of plastic surgery. She thought the doctor’s name was Dr. Grey or something like that.

"It’s not much to go on, but it’s something. It took me another couple days to find this doctor. He wasn’t a very reputable doctor to say the least. It took a little coercing, but I finally got the desired information out of him. Of course, afterwards he did have to find an actual doctor with real medical training. Anyway, there was nowhere for our guy to hide after the hack job that this so called Dr. Grey did on him, but I still can’t get near him.

He keeps eluding me. I kept catching glimpses of him, but that was as close as I can get. This guy was good. I spent another week trying everything I could think of. None of it worked. I was out of ideas, so I called him.

You what? Shantelle interrupted.

Did you have any better ideas? Jayson asked.

You just called the guy up as yourself? Shantelle asked.

"Yeah what was I supposed to do? He knew who I was. I knew who he was, so I called him to set up a meeting. I figured it was the only chance I had left at getting this guy. I called him. He agreed. We met to fight it out once and for all. We set our guns aside to fight hand to hand.

As it started out we were pretty evenly matched. This guy was good. It was like he could anticipate my every move. He blocked everything I threw at him, and he kept giving it back to me.

By this time Shantelle was propped up on her elbow intently listening to Jayson’s encounter. This was more interesting than his normal report, and it was getting more interesting by the minute.

Now I was at a real loss. We were going to be locked in this endless battle until one of us tired out. We were so evenly matched that there was no way to know which one of us would tire out first. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever end. Then I felt something sharp slide across my side. He had pulled out a knife. He had a knife. I didn’t have anything. I only brought one weapon with me, and I had already set it aside like an idiot… Shouldn’t you be putting this into the computer or something?

I’m getting it. Keep going, Shantelle encouraged eager to hear the rest.

Okay, if you say so. Anyway, where was I?

The other guy had a knife, Shantelle reminded.

"Oh, yeah. So, I’m busy dodging a knife. I’ve got to get that knife or at least knock it away from him. He had a death grip on that knife and knew how to use it. I was helpless. It was becoming obvious who was going to give out first. I had to do something, but I didn’t know what. We had agreed to a straight up hand to hand combat. He broke that agreement, surprise, surprise. All bets were off at